Dear ……,
I am writing to you as an incredibly concerned constituent, and on behalf of others who are living in your constituency and wider Yorkshire to strongly urge you to oppose the proposed amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill in your upcoming vote. As transgender individuals, we are scared, and demand you now prove that you truly represent your constituents' safety, right to a peaceful life, and their basic human rights by voting against this amendment. The Data Bill amendment seeks to mandate the collection of data strictly based on the ‘biological sex’ or ‘sex at birth’. This amendment follows the recent Supreme Court ruling that redefined ‘sex’ in the Equality Act to ‘biological sex’—a decision made without consulting a single trans organization. This decision has already led to a violent increase in transphobic attacks and comments against your constituents, which we will continue to hold you personally accountable for if you continue to refuse to act and defend the right to a peaceful life of your transgender constituents.
{if writing to Rachel Reeves} - Rachel, we understand that you will probably ignore this letter, or simply send us back a pre-written response given to you by your bosses. We understand that, but ask that before you do, you take just 5 minutes of your time to read a few of the stories from transgender constituents living in your area you’ll find below. They are heartbreaking, and demonstrate our genuine and real fear. We are already fearing for our safety and lives, we're already seeing a marked rise in transphobic hate crime in your city, against your constituents.We understand you will probably defend your inaction by referencing your support of ‘women's safety for single-sex spaces’ or talk to us of fear of violence or sexual violence. We understand that, and we are fearful of this violence too. Before you ignore us, Rachel, we ask for a few minutes of your time. Before you actively allow and encourage further violence against us, at least let us be heard first.
The amendment to the Data Bill—tabled by the Conservative Party—is a dangerous rollback of rights for transgender, non-binary, and intersex people. It undermines the Gender Recognition Act, threatens the privacy and safety of your constituents, and violates principles protected by the Equality Act, the Human Rights Act, and GDPR.
If passed, it would:
If you wish to ignore the real-world impact this will have on the lives and safety of your trans constituents, we can also reference that this will further erode trust in the United Kingdom as a safe, democratic country to trade with and for. This has already damaged the United Kingdom’s market value, and will continue to do so if this amendment is passed.
I'd like to end my letter with some words from your constituents, who are at threat if this amendment is passed. They have been kept anonymous, to protect their safety.
“If this bill goes through, I as a trans woman will be outed to every potential landlord, employer and anyone who sees my ID, despite previously having changed all these documents and having been out since a teenager. I am terrified. In this transphobic climate I may not be able to get a job, or rent housing, just because of who I am. I may be discriminated against every time I prove my age. I just want to live peacefully but this bill will stop this from happening”
“At a protest on Friday, April 18th, in Leeds city centre, we had at least five instances of hate crime against us. This groups of men wearing white t-shirts kept circling the protest, shouting ‘pedo’ at us and lunging, and eventually tried to steal the phone of one of those protesting and punch the other. This was shortly followed by a lady who ran across the street, angrily shouting ‘fuck trans rights’ at us (by the way, all standing peacefully listening to a speech) and throwing a coffee cup at us. This is all on CCTV from the Sainsbury’s next to where we were standing, but we don’t want to go to the police and out ourselves as trans at this time, and know that if we do, there is nothing they will do anyway. A friend who is a drag king recently had a bottle of piss thrown at him whilst going to a gig, and another friend of mine had to sit next to a group of men loudly talking about how ‘there are a lot of pedos around today’ and ‘all the trans people’ when going to London on the train. Growing up as a scared, closeted kid in the early 2000s, we would be shown videos in PSHE about homophobia and transphobia, and talk about it like it only happened back in the past, but I am now living in fear, genuine fear. I want to get married one day, but at the moment I’m having to cut contact with family members who feel emboldened by these rulings to tell transphobic things to me, or accuse me of ‘hating women’. I don’t hate women, I was one for 18 years, and during that time was groped, harassed, assaulted, spiked, raped, and verbally abused too. I understand some women’s fear, but targeting trans people is not the answer. ”
We look forward to your response.